Quilting and other Things

I've known the gardens were there for a long time but I've never remembered to stop in the spring for a visit. This year, I finally took time to go to the Brueckner Rhododendron Gardens. Actually I've made several visits. The first visit in mid-April was when the Magnolias and Azaleas were in bloom. Its also when Dad got his new little camera so the pictures of Dad and I and of Mom and I are some of the first pictures taken with the camera. Apparently, the flowers start blooming in April and go through to the end of June. In mid-May I went back and this tree was in bloom. I'm not sure what it is. It has tiny flowers like a lilac but they are all over the branch. Its very beautiful. (Its a Red Bud Tree -- Thanks Elaine!) The fruit trees and rhododendrons had also started bloom and the bees were very busy On the May long weekend, after Dad and I went hiking, the three of us went to visit the gardens again. I think I'll try to swing past the gardens ag...

I parked at the Cline Mountain Side Trail which is at km 7.3 and hiked back to where we ended the previous week. There is a side trail that joins the main trail at 6.7 but its a longer trail and the parking was on a busier street. This section of the trail stays below the escarpment top. Its a little rocky in sections and parts were muddy. Some trillums were still in bloom and the mushrooms have started to come back I like the colours and shapes of the mushrooms and fungus. They are fun to take photos of but I never pick any. I borrowed a book from the library last year and very similar looking mushrooms are benign, tasty and deadly poisonous. Photos are much safer. This tree piece looks like its a transplant from the west coast... That's my walking stick leaning against it in front of the knot. This is the back of my jeans when I stopped for lunch at km 11.8. After eating, I turned around and retraced my steps to the car so the jeans were a little worse by the end...

Poor filter Originally uploaded by imhalca Iroquoia Section 2.1 to 6.7 This is why a filter on the front of your lens is a good idea. When we were getting ready to start our hike, I managed to bounce my camera on the ground. The camera was sitting on the back seat and when I grabbed the pack the camera came flying out as well. It must have been sitting on one of the straps. The lens cap drove into the filter. The filter was broken but the lens itself is fine. I was nervous about hiking with no filter on the front of the lens so put the polarizing filter on even though it wasn't a good day for that kind of filter. I forgot to change the camera settings to accommodate for the darker filter so have had to play with some of my pictures. Dad was busy playing with his new camera so I have some of his photos too. The first 2.5 km were road walking. Once we got back onto the escarpment, Dad took the pack for a while since we had one pack between us. I felt like I was floating hi...

Beamer Falls Conservation Area Originally uploaded by imhalca The Bruce Trail is the Black dotted line in the map. I started in the parking lot by Quarry Road and followed the trail to where it crosses Forty Mile Creek (top Right) then turned around and went started back. On the way back I followed the dotted brown line which is a side trail to see the Beamer Falls. if you go to the conservation area in the spring, there is a Hawk Observation Tower. Hawks, Falcons, Turkey Vultures migrate past this area each spring and there are people in the Observation tower to count how many of each kind are migrating through the area. When I started to follow the trail to toward the quarry, I heard some rustling in the leaves beside the trail.  There were several little snakes scurrying around the area.  Near the second lookout area, I watched the turkey vultures soaring out over the thermals but, as usual, they stayed out of camera range. This guy flew into a tree near the lookout d...

On Good Friday afternoon Dad & I went for a walk along the waterfront trail. The pussy willow was budding. Sure sign of spring. From the path, we could see this old? graffiti covered water tower The waterfront trail also encourages bikers. This one was strapped to one of the trail signs. On Easter Sunday, I went for a walk at the creek near my home. The trees were budding. This Cardinal was very cooperative. They don't usually hold still for photos but he posed in the tree. He also posed by the creek where he enjoyed an afternoon drink.

This is one of the photos I took on the first day of spring down at the Mississauga waterfront. The temperatures during the week had been up around 17 - 19 C. Saturday, the temperature only made it to 7 and the sun forgot to come shine. Had fun taking photos anyway. Others photos from the last couple of months are here